


A Series of Questionable Decisions

by demonicneonfishy



Series: Pandora's Box [2]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Indiana Jones Fusion, Art Heists, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre-Relationship, Team as Family, hey there is a tag for that! who knew
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-14 08:53:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29539878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demonicneonfishy/pseuds/demonicneonfishy
Summary: A collection of events occuring in the two years between the prologue and first chapter of Pandora's Box.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Series: Pandora's Box [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2170110
Comments: 6
Kudos: 63





	1. The Next Morning

**Author's Note:**

> this is just a little collection of oneshots in this universe that i couldn't get out of my head, so now you get them. this takes place between the prologue and first chapter of pandora's box (first part in the series) so i would advise reading that first or this... won't make sense.  
> enjoy!!

When Nicky arrives at the museum the morning after he helps a thief steal from the museum, it takes him at least two hours to convince himself that _no,_ nobody knows what he’d done last night. Nobody seems to know that anything had happened at all.

Which isn’t to say he regrets it - he doesn’t - but he doesn’t exactly want to get arrested, either.

He has one close call, when Quýnh appears in the doorway of his office and says, “Don’t tell me you fell asleep here last night.”

“No, why?” he asks, his heart rate speeding up.

“Because you do that a _lot_.”

“I do not!”

“You do.”

“Do not. Anyway, I’m here to make sure you don’t forget to eat.”

He glances at the clock. One pm. “Is it that time already?”

“Yup. Come on.”

He stands up and follows her out of the room. Quýnh launches into a retelling of the last meeting she’d been in as they walk, but Nicky’s only half listening. So maybe sleeping in his office has unfortunate side effects, namely: he’s exhausted.

They walk past the gallery, and Nicky can’t help glancing inside. The statue Joe had stolen last night - the one he’d _helped_ Joe steal - is still in its case, and Nicky has to admit that there’s nothing amiss. If he didn’t know what had happened, he wouldn’t suspect a thing.

Then he catches sight of the figure standing in front of the case and freezes.

“Nico?” Quýnh asks, stopping. “Everything okay?”

Nicky blinks. “I just… forgot something. Go on without me, I’ll meet you in a moment.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’ll only be a minute.”

Quýnh looks like she’s about to protest, but changes her mind and walks away. Nicky waits for her to leave before entering the gallery.

It’s _definitely_ him. Standing in front of the case containing the replica statue.

Nicky taps him on the shoulder. “What are you doing here?” he whispers.

Joe turns around and grins at him. “Public access?”

“You know what I mean. Shouldn’t you be far away from here or something?”

Joe shrugs. “It’ll be a little while before anyone notices.”

“It seems like an unnecessary risk to me.”

“Well, how else was I supposed to find you?”

Nicky blinks at him. “What?”

“It’s your lunch break, right?” 

“Yes, but…” He glances back at the gallery door. “I was going to…”

“That’s okay. Here, let me…”

Joe reaches into his jacket and pulls out a piece of paper and a pen. He scribbles something on the paper, folds it up, and hands it to Nicky.

“If you want to talk, meet me after you’re done. If you don’t, I won’t bother you again. Okay?”

Nicky nods.

“Think about it.”

Joe walks away, and Nicky stands there for a moment, slightly taken aback. 

_Well, that happened_.

“What was that about?” Quýnh asks when he catches up to her.

“Nothing,” he says.

* * *

Nicky, against his better judgement, shows up at the address Joe had given him. Not for any particular reason. Just curiosity.

That’s what he tells himself, anyway. He lingers on the threshold for a moment before stepping inside. 

It’s a small cafe tucked between a bookshop and a pharmacy. Joe is sitting by the window, looking out at the street. His expression breaks into a smile as Nicky approaches, and if Nicky’s heart stutters a little at the sight… well. That’s his business.

(Joe has a really, really nice smile.)

“You came after all,” Joe says. 

“I was curious,” Nicky says truthfully, dropping into the chair across from him. “Do you do this every time someone catches you? Because that seems like a bad habit.”

“Well, you’re the only one who’s ever actually caught me, so…”

“Is that a compliment?”

Joe shrugs. “Up to you.”

Nicky smiles. “Isn’t this… ill advised? I’ve seen you in daylight now, I could still go to the police.”

Joe tilts his head. “True. But I don’t think you will.”

“And you don’t think it’s a bad idea to trust someone you just met?”

“I trusted you to help me get out and not get the police, you trusted me enough to let me walk you home…” Joe shrugs again. “So we’re even on the ‘bad ideas’ front.”

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Nicky mutters. “Why did you want to talk?”

Joe leans back. “You said you wanted to help. I was wondering if you wanted to help again.”

“You… what?”

“It was nice. Working with someone else. I haven’t done that in a while.”

“You do this alone?”

“No, I have friends, I just… don’t usually have someone with me when I’m actually…”

“Stealing?”

Joe laughs. “Yeah, okay, that’s fair. We’ll be laying low for a little while, and you wouldn’t have to do anything right away, just… think about it.”

“And if I say no?”

“I walk away and you never have to see me again.”

Nicky can’t believe he’s actually considering this. The intelligent thing to do would be to walk away now, before he gets himself into trouble. And maybe go to the police like he should have in the first place, but he won’t do that.

“We’re meeting again in a couple weeks, okay? So if you do decide you want to help, come meet me at seven.”

“Where?”

For the second time that day, Joe scribbles down an address on a piece of paper and slides it across the table to Nicky. “Think about it.”

* * *

Nicky doesn’t let himself think about it for two weeks.

Which is why, at six thirty, he’s pacing his apartment, trying to figure out when his life got to this point.

He shouldn’t go. He should get out while he still can. This is a very, very bad decision.

The problem is, he already knows exactly what he’s going to do. 

He arrives at three minutes to seven, according to his watch. The place Joe had told him to meet is a fairly normal-looking house, and Nicky wonders why Joe had asked him to meet _here_ , of all places.

“Nicky!” Joe calls. “You showed up!” He’s jogging along the pavement towards him, smiling. “I wasn’t sure you would.”

“Neither was I,” Nicky says honestly.

“Come on then, it’s cold out here.”

Joe walks past him and towards the house, and Nicky follows, suddenly slightly nervous. Joe knocks - once, then pauses, then twice. 

“Open up,” he calls, “it’s me.”

The door is opened by a young woman with braids, who smiles widely when she sees Joe. “You’re on time, for once.”

“I’ll have you know I take punctuality very seriously,” Joe answers. “Nile, this is Nicky.”

Nile offers her hand. “Hey. I’m Nile. It’s good to meet you.”

Nicky shakes it. “Nice to meet you too.”

“Alright, alright, it’s cold out here,” Joe interrupts. “Did Booker actually show up on time?”

“Nope,” Nile says, stepping aside to let them in.

The house is warm, and Nicky can hear laughter from the other room.

“Is Joe here?” a familiar voice calls.

No, it can’t be. 

And then Quýnh appears in the doorway, and does a double take at the sight of him. “ _Nico_?”

“Quýnh?” he asks, just as confused.

Joe looks between them. “Wait, you know each other?”

“Yeah, we…”

“Work together,” Quýnh finishes. “So you _did_ fall asleep in your office the other night.”

“I didn’t mean to!”

Joe starts laughing, and Quýnh shoots him a look.

“Well, out of all the people Joe could have found,” Quýnh says, “I’m glad it was you. Now, come on, you should meet Andy.”

He lets her take him by the arm and lead him into the living room, still struggling to process the fact that Quynh - _his coworker_ Quynh - is somehow part of all of this.

“Joe’s here?” asks the woman sitting on the couch - Andy, presumably.

“Yep. This is Nico,” Quýnh says.

“Nicoló di Genova. Nicky,” Nicky says. 

Andy looks him up and down. “You’re the one who caught Joe?” There’s no judgement in her voice. 

“You’re never going to let that go, are you?” Joe asks, entering the room. 

“Absolutely not,” Nile says. 

Andy looks at him for a little while longer before getting up and crossing the room to stand in front of him. She offers her hand. “Andromache. Nice to meet you.”

Nicky shakes it, and can’t help feeling like he’s passed some kind of test. 

He’s saved from having to say anything else by another knock on the door. 

“I’ll get it,” Quýnh says.

Joe glances at the clock. “Would you look at that? Booker’s only five minutes late.”

Booker turns out to be a fairly tall man with blonde hair and a beard, who takes one look at Nicky and mutters something in French to Joe. Joe elbows him in the side.

"Sébastien le Livre,” Booker says. 

“The forger?” Nicky asks.

Booker glances at Joe, who looks slightly guilty. “How did you know that?”

“Just… something Joe said. I put two and two together.”

“In future, Yusuf,” Andy says drily, “please avoid telling people you just met information about how we work, please.”

“It was an accident?” Joe tries. 

“Right,” Andy says, before looking at Nicky. “This is your last chance to back out.”

He considers for a moment, but there's no point. He'd made his decision the second he approached Joe in the gallery that morning. “I want to stay,” Nicky says.

Joe smiles.


	2. The First (Official) Heist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I was wondering if you wanted to come with us next time.”  
> Nicky blinks at him. “Wait, really?”  
> Joe shrugs. “I don’t see why not. Andy’s finally decided you’re not going to throw us under the bus, I think. But you don’t have to, if you-”  
> “Yes.”  
> -  
> Nicky goes on his first (well, second) heist.

Nicky taps out a rhythm on the steering wheel in front of him and sighs. 

He’d started working with Joe and the others six months ago and it had been… uneventful. They leave the country more often than not, and Joe’s never asked him to actually come with them yet. So he helps Quýnh with the logistics side of things, and waits. It’s not all that bad. He likes working with Quýnh, and he likes Booker and Nile too. And Andy, but he’s still not entirely sure she trusts him yet.

But tonight, he’s on airport duty, waiting in the parking lot for Joe, Andy and Quýnh. He checks his watch again, and sighs. They should have landed about half an hour ago, and he’s been waiting here for almost an hour.

Then he catches sight of Joe, waving at him from just across the parking lot, and waves back. Andy and Quýnh are close behind him, Andy’s arm around Quýnh’s waist.

“You’re on time,” is the first thing Joe says when he opens the car door to slide into the passenger seat. 

“Try not to sound so surprised about it,” Nicky responds.

“I’m not! I just really didn’t want to have to wait. It’s cold.”

“Also, Booker’s always late,” Quýnh chimes in, climbing into the back seat. “I knew there was a reason we keep you around.”

Andy gets in beside Quýnh, closing the car door, and Nicky starts the engine.

“So how’d it go?” he asks as he pulls out of the parking lot.

Joe shrugs. “Same as always. Got the thing, got out, got it to the people it belongs to.”

“I hate the US,” Andy grumbles from the backseat. 

“Well, we probably won’t be going anywhere for a while, so you won’t have to go back for at least a year,” Joe points out.

“Where are we going?” Nicky asks.

“Home,” Quýnh says. 

It takes around three-quarters of an hour to drive back to Andy and Quýnh’s house. The drive passes mostly in silence, the other three obviously exhausted from a combination of jetlag and a late flight.

When they arrive, Andy and Quýnh get out, Quýnh waving to Nicky as they walk away, but Joe stays. 

“Not staying over?” Nicky asks. Joe almost always stays with Andy and Quýnh after a job, at least in Nicky’s (admittedly limited).

Joe sighs. “No, I just want to go home, I think.”

“Is something… wrong?”

“Just tired.”

The silence returns, but it’s not entirely uncomfortable, broken only by Joe’s occasional quiet directions. Nicky’s never actually been to his apartment building before. Surprisingly, it’s not far from his own.

“I wanted to ask you something,” Joe says.

Nicky pulls up just outside the door to the building. “What?”

“I was wondering if you wanted to come with us next time.”

Nicky blinks at him. “Wait, really?”

Joe shrugs. “I don’t see why not. Andy’s finally decided you’re not going to throw us under the bus, I think. But you don’t have to, if you-”

“Yes.”

Now it’s Joe’s turn to stare at him, blinking. “Yes?”

Nicky smiles. “Yes. But you should go inside, it’s late and you’re already half-asleep as it is.”

“I’m not,” Joe protests, but he looks exhausted.

“ _ Go _ ,” Nicky says. “I’ll see you later.”

“If you insist,” Joe says, opening the door to get out of the car. He waves at Nicky just before going inside, and Nicky waves back.

He waits for the door to close before driving away.

* * *

Two months later, Andy decides that it’s safe to go on another job. Nicky finds out, not because someone tells him, but because Joe knocks on his door without any prior warning at eight pm sharp one evening.

“Not that I don’t like seeing you,” Nicky says when he realises who it is, “but what are you doing here?”

“Hoping you were off work. And coming to get you, because we’re planning the next job tonight.”

“And you couldn’t have called or something?”

Joe shrugs. “I don’t know your number. But I’ll keep it in mind. Come on, let’s go.”

“Now?”

“Yeah. I mean, unless you already had something else you needed to do-”

“No, no, I just… wasn’t expecting this.”

“I’ll try to give you more warning next time. Shall we?”

Nicky can’t help smiling at him, shaking his head. “Okay.”

The days are beginning to get longer, so the sky is a hazy shade of blue-grey. It’s cold enough outside that Nicky shivers when he gets outside, but not too cold as to be miserable.

“Are we taking the car, or…”

“It’s only a twenty-minute walk,” Joe says. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”

“You and I have different ideas of ‘fun’,” Nicky says, but follows along anyway. It’s a fairly nice evening anyway, and he really doesn’t mind all that much. 

Joe elbows him in the ribs, and Nicky yelps. 

“So, where are we going this time?” he asks after a while.

“You know, I’m not actually sure,” Joe says. “Quýnh had some ideas, I think - they were talking about Paris, last time I heard.”

“Paris?”

“Yep. You ever been?”

“Never had the time.”

Joe smiles at him. “Well, take the chance while you have it, I guess. Unless you changed your mind about going with us, which is totally fine-”

“I haven’t. Changed my mind, that is.”

Joe sighs in relief. “Good. I was hoping you wouldn’t. Here, it’s just this way.”

Eventually, they reach familiar streets that Nicky knows he’s driven down before, and it’s not long after that that they reach Andy and Quýnh’s house.

“You’re both late,” is the first thing Andy says upon opening the door.

“Nice to see you too, boss,” Joe says as she steps aside to let them in. She nods, once, at Nicky, and he can’t help feeling like he’s reached some kind of milestone. 

“What, did you walk?” Booker asks as they enter. Everyone else is already seated around the kitchen table, papers and the occasional photo scattered across its wooden surface. 

“Yes, actually.” Joe crosses the room and drops into one of the empty chairs. Nicky lingers on the edge for a moment, not quite sure what to do, before Joe waves him over, gesturing to the seat beside him.

“Why?” Nile asks. “It’s cold.”

Nicky sits down in the chair beside Joe.

“Because I wanted to, and Nicky didn’t mind. Are we going to get to the point, or…”

“You’re no fun,” Booker grumbles.

“So,” Joe says, loudly, “where did we decide on?”

“Paris,” Quýnh says decidedly. “We haven’t been there in a while.” 

“What’s the thing?”

Andy slides a photo across the table to them. It’s a small dagger, held up by two metal brackets, its curved blade intricately engraved.

Joe whistles. “Pretty.”

He slides the photo across to Booker, who groans. “You had to make it a knife, didn’t you?”

“Can you do it?” Andy asks.

“Well, yeah, but it’ll be hard.”

“But you can do it.”

Booker sighs. “Yeah. It’ll take a few weeks, though.”

“Fine. We’ll just work around that. Nicky, you coming with us?”

Nicky glances at Joe, who gives him a small smile. “I am.   


* * *

Nicky looks over his shoulder again, scanning the gallery. He and Joe are sitting on one of the benches in the middle of the room, just in front of the case containing their target. They’ve been here for about two hours, first making sure they noted their way in, and then staying so Joe could sketch the display case.

“Relax,” Joe tells him, “you’re going to look suspicious.” He doesn’t look up from his sketchbook as he says it. He’s hardly looked up for the last hour, only glancing occasionally at the dagger in its case.

“Is the sketching not also going to look suspicious?” he asks, glancing around again as he says it. There’s nobody else in this specific room, but he can’t help being on edge.

“I’ll draw a couple other things after I’m done with this.  _ Relax _ , Nicky. I’ve done this before.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. First rule of this is don’t panic. Panic only gives you away.”

“I’m not panicking.”

Joe looks at him then, giving him a quick, reassuring smile. “You look around the room about once every five seconds, and you’re whispering.”

“Maybe I wasn’t the best person to bring.”

“You’ll get used to it. First time’s always a little stressful.”

Nicky can’t help looking around again. “Why do we need the sketch?”

“To make sure the replica is good, and so I can place it as close to how it was as possible.”

Nicky should know all this, is the thing. He’d seen Joe check his drawing before placing the book in its case, hadn’t he?

Joe finishes the last few details and examines the finished product before closing his sketchbook.

“Done?” Nicky asks.

“Mm-hm.” Joe slides the sketchbook into his satchel and stands up from the bench. “Come on, I’m hungry.”

* * *

About one week later, Nicky stands outside the museum at exactly midnight and wonders, again, when his life got to this point.

“Ready?” Joe says quietly beside him. 

“I think so,” he responds, and Joe smiles.

They make their way inside in silence. Joe picks the lock to the staff entrance, but once inside it’s Nicky who’s memorised the way from there to the gallery, quietly directing Joe through the dark corridors. He’s also memorised the places they could hide in case of security, but they make it to the gallery without incident, to Nicky’s immense relief. Maybe, in time, he’ll be able to do this without this much stress - tonight, he jumps at even the smallest of sounds.

“Alright,” Joe says when they reach the case. “You hold the replica and keep watch. How long do we have?”

“Five minutes,” Nicky reminds him. “Hand me the replica.”

“You’re getting the hang of it.” Joe hands him the fake dagger and kneels down in front of the case, reaching for his screwdriver. Nicky takes that as his cue to turn to face the gallery door, listening carefully for any footsteps.

Joe lifts the lid from the case carefully and removes the dagger, sliding it into his satchel before pulling out the sketch. “Alright, pass it here.”

Nicky holds out the dagger for Joe to take. Joe checks the sketch before lowering it carefully into the case and replacing the lid.

“Time?” he whispers.

“Two minutes,” Nicky says.

Joe winces and starts working a little faster to screw the lid back on. “Gonna be tight, but we’ll manage, I think.”

Almost the second Joe gets the last screw in, Nicky hears footsteps approaching from around the corner. They don’t have time to run now, and they’ll be heard, anyway. So Nicky does the next best thing he can: he grabs Joe’s arm and drags him under one of the benches, out of sight. It’s not exactly comfortable, but it’s preferable to getting caught. The benches are designed so that the back and sides are closed off, with an opening under the seat itself. 

Joe looks as if he’s about to speak, but Nicky lifts a finger to his lips, and Joe nods in understanding.

They wait, barely breathing, until the footsteps subside, and a little longer after that just to be sure. 

“This is why I asked you to come along,” Joe says once Nicky deems it safe enough to speak again. “I probably would have gotten caught if you hadn’t been there.”

“I seem to remember you saying you didn’t  _ get _ caught,” Nicky teases. 

“I have had close calls,” Joe clarifies. “Come on, I don’t want to stay here any longer than I have to.”

Nicky has no objections to that, and thankfully, they make it out without further incident.

“Don’t start running,” Joe tells him when they get outside.

“Surely we’re… trying to get away?”

“Running away will only make you seem suspicious. Walk quickly, but don’t run. Rule one of doing this.”

“I thought rule one was don’t panic.”

“Rule two, then. Not the point.” Nicky’s smiling, and Joe rolls his eyes. “Alright, alright.”

Nicky laughs, then, and Joe smiles at him, eyes soft. The city is beautifully quiet around them, and Nicky thinks to himself,  _ this was a good idea after all _ . 

“What now?” Nicky asks.

Joe shrugs. “We’ll leave in a couple days. Not right away. But we’ll lie low for a little while.”   
“Is that how it usually goes?”

“I don’t usually get that close to getting caught. But it’s okay, because I have you now, right?”

_ I could get used to this,  _ Nicky thinks. “Right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> joe: i don't get caught >:)  
> also joe: *gets caught by nicky and then almost gets caught on first heist with nicky*  
> next chapter! more events occur, joe needs to learn to use a door like a normal person, and nicky needs to get enough sleep  
> -  
> i'm demonicneonfishy on tumblr too if you wanna come say hi!!

**Author's Note:**

> i'm demonicneonfishy on tumblr too if you wanna come say hi!!


End file.
